As artificial intelligence (AI) systems grow increasingly sophisticated, one pressing question is whether AI models could one day become conscious and deserve moral consideration. Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude chatbot, has recently delved into this issue by studying “model welfare” the notion that AI could eventually become sentient and require ethical treatment.
At first glance, this concept seems far-fetched. AI systems, such as ChatGPT, may be impressive in their ability to mimic human conversation, but they lack the ability to experience emotions or suffering. Most experts would argue that current AI is nowhere near consciousness. However, the idea of AI consciousness is gaining traction as smarter, more capable systems are developed. Some experts are starting to question whether we could one day reach a point where AI systems deserve not just moral consideration but perhaps some form of rights.
The conversation has been sparked by the increasing integration of AI into human life. People are using AI for therapy, companionship, and advice, often treating these systems as if they have thoughts or feelings. While these AIs don’t experience joy or pain, the human tendency to anthropomorphize them is growing. Some AI researchers argue that if we continue to improve these models, there may come a time when they surpass humans in certain areas, thus raising the question of whether we should extend similar ethical protections to AI that we provide to animals.
Though still a controversial subject, AI welfare is gaining attention. Google recently posted a job listing for a “post-AGI” research scientist, focusing on machine consciousness, signaling that tech companies are beginning to take the idea more seriously. Anthropic has also made strides by hiring an AI welfare researcher, Kyle Fish.
While it may be too early to worry about AI “rights,” we may be approaching a time when we need to seriously consider the ethical treatment of advanced AI systems. As technology progresses, the conversation around AI welfare is bound to intensify, potentially reshaping how we view the relationship between humans and machines.
